12/18/2019 63 Moons Damages Suit: Bombay HC gives 4-week extension to P Chidambaram, two bureaucrats to file responseRead NowThe Bombay High Court on Friday granted a 4-week extension to former Finance Minister P Chidambaram and two bureaucrats Ramesh Abhishek and K P Krishnan to file a response in Rs. 10,000 crore damage suit filed by 63 Moons Technologies Limited in the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) payment crisis case.
On Friday, after the Counsel for defendants sought more time to file their response to the damages suit, a Single Bench of Justice AK Menon gave additional four weeks and said that it would be the last extension. 63 Moons opposed the extension sought by defendants. On October 22, the Court had directed the defendants to file a response within eight weeks and had said that 63 Moons will have the liberty to apply for an ex-parte order if written replies are not filed within a stipulated time. On July 24, this year, the High Court had summoned the three individuals and directed them to appear in the judge's chamber, in person or through an advocate, on October 15. However, since the Bench was not assigned on the said date, the Court heard the matter on October 22. The July 24 order had also warned that the matter will be decided ex-parte if the summoned individuals fail to appear. 63 Moons (formerly known as Financial Technologies Ltd) had filed a suit alleging that Chidambaram, Krishnan, and Abhishek had caused loss worth Rs. 10,000 crore through an alleged conspiracy to engineer the payment default crisis to protect NSEL. In its plea, 63 Moons Technologies has sought the payment of damages and compensation for the alleged "malicious and mala fide actions” by the three individuals. KP Krishnan serves as the Secretary, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, whereas Ramesh Abhishek is the former Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion Internal Trade. Source - https://barandbench.com/63-moons-damages-suit-bombay-hc-gives-4-week-extension-chidambaram-two-bureaucrats-file-response/
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The Bombay High Court on Friday warned former Union finance minister P Chidambaram and two bureaucrats, Ramesh Abhishek and K P Krishnan, that it would initiate ex-parte proceedings against them in the Rs 10,000 crore suit filed by 63 Moons Technologies (formerly Financial Technologies) for damages in the connection with National Spot Exchange (NSEL) payment default.
The warning came in the wake of their failure to a submit written submission for the second time in this case. Hearing the case, Justice A K Menon granted the three an extension of four weeks to file their reply. “Enough time has been given to file reply. If you fail to submit the written submission in four weeks, ex-parte proceedings would be initiated,” the court said. The counsel appearing for Chidambaram argued, “The former finance minister was in jail (for over 100 days in a money laundering case). Hence, the instructions could not be taken from him to file the written submission. Therefore, some more time is required to file the reply.” The counsel, however, said that no further extension would be sought to file the written submission. Counsels appearing for Abhishek, the former chairman of the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the erstwhile commodity market regulator, and Krishnan also argued in favour of the extension. “The court (Bombay HC) granted four weeks' extension to them to file their reply, saying that no further extension would be given,” said Vishwanathan Iyer, appearing for 63 Moons. In February 2019, 63 Moons had filed a case for damages contending abuse of power by Chidambaram, Abhishek and Krishnan for perpetrating the NSEL payment default crisis, destroying the exchange ecosystem created by the company, causing huge damage to its shareholders, loss of employment, and halting income generation in the economy, in order to favour the competitor. On October 22, the court had directed Chidambaram, Abhishek and Krishnan to file their written statements within eight weeks. It had also rejected the plea of Chidambaram’s counsel for further liberty saying that eight weeks period is enough to file the written statements. Today, the three respondents failed to submit their written statements for the second time. 63 Moons believes that it has been targeted with malafide intent in the wake of the payment default crisis at one of its subsidiaries, the NSEL. Despite the fact that no money trail has been traced to NSEL, 63 Moons and its founder were raided several times by multiple investigative agencies, including the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Mumbai Police, the Enforcement Directorate, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) in addition to the government of Maharashtra and the Centre. 63 Moons had also filed a case against Abhishek in the Madras High Court seeking a Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) probe into the matter. The other case pending against him is the corruption probe by Lokpal. An eight-member Lokpal bench headed by former Supreme Court judge Pinaki Chandra Ghosh passed the order asking the CVC to submit the status report in respect of the complaints lodged by the company. It is also contended that when Abhishek was FMC chairman, he misplaced the minutes of the meeting held on August 4, 2013 with stakeholders of now defunct NSEL exchange, including 24 defaulters, brokers and exchange management. Technology and innovation should be harnessed to transform governance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said. The “Make in India” initiative is based on four pillars, which have been identified to give boost to entrepreneurship in India, not only in manufacturing but also other sectors. It recognizes ‘ease of doing business’ as the single most important factor to promote entrepreneurship. A number of initiatives have already been undertaken to ease business environment. The aim is to de-license and de-regulate the industry during the entire life cycle of a business.
India’s credibility is stronger than ever. There is visible momentum, energy and optimism. Make in India is opening investment doors. Multiple enterprises are adopting its mantra. The world’s largest democracy is well on its way to becoming the world’s most powerful economy. The Prime Minister said that his vision of a ‘New India’ could only be built through the efforts of crores of ordinary citizens, and called upon young entrepreneurs to join in this effort. Incidentally, fintech innovator Jignesh Shah has been working on the Make in India for quite some time now. He strongly believes that Start-up ecosystem will not be just restricted to exchange and marketplace, rather, it will be majority of IP based field in the verticals of agriculture, genetics, robotics. It is quite known in financial market circle that Mr. Jignesh Shah had developed his idea and realised his vision of a well-developed infrastructure of financial ecosystem, that too, within a decade. His foresight with deep-rooted interest in domestic strength had a strong connection with the real economy and generation of newer jobs and growth opportunities. 63 moons technologies limited is the only group with holistic understanding of financial markets ecosystem and an ability of innovate and establish internationally acclaimed financial institutions that are India centric. In the new era, too, Shah is going to mentor millioins of India's young entrepreneurs. |
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